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Political relationships: it's who you know

Ther e ar e a million dif f er ent angles f or a s tor y on Julia Gillar ds r is e to pow er . Topic s like Tw itter , w omen in politic s , Kev in Rudds per s onality , Labor par ty f ac tions etc w ill be dis c us s ed ad naus eum in the day s ( and pos s ibly w eeks ) to c ome. Bef or e w e pr ogr es s though, lets c lear up s ome mis c onc eptions . Shes not our f ir s t r edhead PM. That w as Sc ullin bac k in the 60s . Shes not the f ir s t PM bor n ov er s eas . That w as Wats on, bor n in Chile. Bef or e s he bec ame PM, her s tatements , Y ou may as w ell as k me am I antic ipating a tr ip to Mar s , or Ther es mor e c hanc e of me s ailing r ound the w or ld 12 times than bec oming PM, or Ther es mor e c hanc e of me play ing f ull f or w ar d f or the Bulldogs than bec oming PM, w er e c lear ly hy per bole. How ev er , one of the mos t inter es ting as pec ts of this s aga, that has gone r elativ ely unnotic ed, is the f ac t that A BC jour nalis t Chr is Uhlmann has tw ic e br oken the bigges t politic al s tor ies of the y ear . He w as the jour nalis t w ho br oke the s pill agains t Malc olm Tur nbull late las t y ear and he w as als o the jour nalis t w ho br oke the mos t r ec ent s pill ous ting Kev in Rudd. This is no s mall f r y ac hiev ement. To leav e the likes of Laur ie Oakes , Mic helle Gr attan and Lenor e Tay lor w onder ing What the hell jus t happened is the equiv alent of Mas ter Chef, State of O r i gi n and the F IF A W or l d Cup s uddenly being out- r ated by Keepi ng up wi th the Kar das hi ans on pay TV . When y ou add this to the f ac t that he br oke the new s on his bir thday , Uhlmann has ear ned the r ight to a f r ee dr ink at the Holy Gr ail in Kings ton w ith the r es t of his c hums in the pr es s galler y . How did Uhlmann do it though? How did he manage to leav e the r es t of the pr es s galler y biting dus t w hile br eaking the bigges t politic al s tor y of the dec ade? The ans w er is s imple. He knew the r ight people, and they f elt c omf or table in talking to him. A s s omeone w ho w or ks in PR, Iv e been taught to nev er EV ER s ay any thing of f the r ec or d. Y ou only ev er s ay s omething y oud f eel c omf or table s eeing in pr int. Things w or k v er y dif f er ently in the halls of Par liament Hous e. Par t of the pr oblem is that both dogs s har e the s ame kennel. If y our e a jour nalis t w or king at Par liament Hous e, take a s tr oll of mor e than f iv e metr es and odds ar e y oull bump into a politic ian or one of their s taf f er s . The pr oblem w ith this is ev er y one us ually know s ev er y thing els e. For ins tanc e: all the galler y knew Cher y l Ker not and Gar eth Ev ans w er e s leeping together ; all the galler y knew Peter Cos tello nev er had the number s to c hallenge John How ar d; all the galler y knew Kev in Rudd looked like Mr Sheen. When the Gov er nment s neez es , the pr es s galler y c atc hes a c old. To nav igate thes e w ater s as a pr es s s ec r etar y is s er ious ly tr ic ky w or k. Its little w onder that pr es s s ec r etar ies of ten hav e v as tly dif f er ent r eputations and v er y dif f er ent modes of oper ation Kev in Rudds pr es s s ec r etar y , Lac hlan Har r is , had a f ier c e r eputation. He w ould tr y and bully jour nalis ts into r unning a s tor y . He w as v er y ef f ec tiv e at this , demons tr ated c lear ly by Rudds c ontr ol of the 24/7 new s c y c le w ell until Rudd got dumper any w ay . Dav id Luf f , John How ar ds pr es s s ec r etar y , w as a f or mer jour nalis t at the Sydney Mor ni ng Her al d and the Dai l y T el egr aph. He w as w idely admir ed by the galler y w ho on one oc c as ion took to w ear ing I lov e Luf f y t- s hir ts . He under s tood how jour nalis ts oper ated and tr ied to engage w ith them ac c or dingly . Both men w er e r eas onably ef f ec tiv e at their jobs des pite their dif f er ent appr oac hes and ex per ienc e lev els . The r eas on f or this is that they took the time to build r elations hips w ith the jour nalis ts they dealt w ith ( albeit thr ough dif f er ent means ) . By building thes e s tr ong r elations hips , jour nalis ts w er e ( gener ally s peaking) not c ombativ e to Har r is bully ing, and r ec eptiv e to Luf f s appr oac hes . Ultimately though, Har r is bully ing w or e thin w ith the galler y and they dec ided to giv e Rudd a Rudd and Harris w ere a formidable team... for a little w hile. Julia Gillard's rise to pow er had nothing to do w ith her choice in jackets.

Gillard Power

Rudd Harris

Ultimately though, Har r is bully ing w or e thin w ith the galler y and they dec ided to giv e Rudd a har d time, ultimately leading to his now inf amous 7:30 Repor t Land appear anc e. Onc e Rudds r elations hip w ith the pr es s galler y diminis hed, its little w onder his s uppor t in the opinion polls f ollow ed s uit. Of c our s e ther e w er e other f ac tor s too, but the implic ation is c lear : dont take y our media r elations hips f or gr anted. If y ou abus e the r elations hips y ou hav e w ith the pr es s y ou c ould w ell end up in Lac hlan Har r is s hoes . Looking f or a new job. T hi s ar ti c l e fi r s t appear ed on the PRINKs b l og Clic k her e to email Dy lan about the abov e c olumn. Clic k her e to go bac k to the homepage.